The report, Race at Work 2018, is based on responses from more than 6,000 workers. It says that, since 2015, there has been an increase in the proportion of people from a BAME background who report that they have witnessed or experienced racist harassment or bullying from customers or service users (up to 19% from 16%) – with those people of a mixed ethnicity experiencing the largest increase in harassment or bullying from customers (20% up from 13%). However, the proportion of white employees who report experiencing or witnessing racist harassment or bullying from managers has fallen since 2015.

The report also finds that 70% of BAME workers say that career progression is important to them, compared to only 42% of White British employees. However, over half of BAME employees believe that they will have to leave their current organisation to progress in their career in contrast with 38% of White British employees who believe this.

In 2015, 48% of BAME managers had a performance objective to promote equality and diversity, compared to only 32% of white managers with a performance objective to promote equality and diversity. The report finds that the proportion of managers who report that they have a performance objective to promote equality at work has fallen from 41% in 2015 to 32% in 2018, with this figure falling almost equally for those from a White British and those from a BAME background. However, BAME managers [38%] are much more likely to have a performance objective to promote equality and diversity than White British managers [26%].

Moreover, there has been little development in the number of people comfortable talking about race with 38% saying they are compared to 37% in 2015.